PROPER USE OF THE HEAVY BAG

 by Phillip Starr

*Partially excerpted from the author's book, “Martial Mechanics.”

I've seen numerous videos of martial arts practitioners hitting the heavy bag with a variety of punches and kicks and happily smiling as the bag swings out away form them. In fact, there's some footage of a well-known deceased kung-fu enthusiast performing a step-in side thrust kick against a large heavy. His kick caused the bag to swing out to a near-horizontal position and viewers comment on the remarkable power of such a kick.

And they're wrong.

Consider this; if the bag moves away from you when you strike it, you're PUSHING it! The further it swings out, the more of a “push effect” you generate...and in the practice of real martial arts, we're not interested in shoving things; we actually want to deliver what I call “body shock”, which is considerably different than pushing.

Watching the bag swing away from you certainly engenders a feeling of great power and makes you feel all a-twitter about the strength of your technique but it's all an illusion. Although it's fun to watch the bag swing violently when you hit it, its swinging reaction indicates that the force of your blow is being expended on the surface of the target instead of penetrating through it.

Bruce Lee's legendary “one-inch punch” sent his partner sprawling backwards for some distance. At the risk of creating a whole new slew of antagonists, I will state for the record that this is indicative of a push rather than a shocking punch. A genuinely shocking blow would have dropped his partner almost where he stood. For this reason, I refer to it as the “one-inch push”, which, although it certainly LOOKED impressive...was no more than a strong push.

Focused shock won't cause the bag to swing much at all! If you hold a .357 magnum against the bag which generates more shocking power than any of your techniques can generate on your very best day) and fire it, what will happen? The bag certainly won't swing away from the blast to any large degree at all. It might “scissors.” It might even jump a bit. But it won't swing much. The same thing should occur with your technique, if it's correct. If your focused blow generates shock that penetrates THROUGH the bag instead of spreading all over its surface, the bag won't swing very much. It might “scissors” or jump, but it won't swing. So the next time you practice with the heavy bag, watch what it does when you hit it forcefully. Don't get caught up in the game of seeing how far you can move it. Try doing just the opposite...